Culinary Poll #011: Naming Names (In Recipes)

[Daniel Rogov]

I have always been fascinated by and have even written two books about recipes named for kings, queens, courtesans, thieves, policemen and out-and-out whores, some of which are for the best dishes in the world. The question this week is simple enough:

What do we think of printed recipes such as "Aunt Jennie's apple cake", "My mother's beef stew", "Michael's chocolate pudding", "Sara's cod fish" and the like. In relating to "printed", I refer to cookbooks, newspaper columns, internet sites, blogs, whatever......

In addition to your vote, comments are solicited. And if you do like such recipes, feel free to post one or more of your favorites.

[Scott Lancer]

When I was in college, I worked at a family-run Italian restaurant, and after two years of Veal Mary, Pasta Louie (spectaculry good, by the way), and any number of other options, I apparently stopped noticing. I've not thought about it in fifteen years, I guess.

Now that I have given it a few minutes, I like the naming convention. It helps me remember the dish when I aim to reproduce or modify it. Attaching the name is entertaining and an excellent mnemonic device that I hadn't figured out before. I only remember the parts of Peach Melba (my attempts to create a cocktail ended with something much more akin to Captain Black pipe tobacco) because of the name. Same with Pasta Louie, in fact.

[Shel T]

Like you Daniel, am fascinated with recs named after kings, queens, whores etc. and have tried several of the recs.
Recs named after mom, Auntie whomever etc. are generally skipped as in the time period when I did read them, the vast majority were boring, simplistic or both.
Very occasionally there will be one with an intriguing title that I'll read and discover that the title was a helluva lot more interesting than the rec!

[Carl Eppig]

We accept the names of recipes as given/provided to us, and pass them on the same. If it has someone's name is associated with it, so be it.

[Bob Ross]

I accept recipes with names attached all the time -- example John Ash's Balsamic reduction.

I add names of the people I get them from -- a few dozen Jenise's _____, for example -- Meatloaf -- Batali via Jenise.

Garr, Howard, Della's Posole (Cynthia), many others from FLDG.

Chef's -- Batali's Eggplant Parm, etc.

And, most important, Janet's ______ -- I darn well better make it the same way she did in the days she was cooking for us all.

The human names resonant, do honor when the dishes are a success, encourage better efforts when the dish fails.

[Bill Spohn]

I add names of the people I get them from -- a few dozen Jenise's _____, for example -- Meatloaf -- Batali via Jenise.

Damn, I'm going to have to haul out those recipes and relabel them!

Hey Jenise, which brand of green beans was that and was it Durkee tinned French Fried Onions you put on top? Ever after to be known as Jenise's Green Bean Casserole!

[Jenise]

Hey Jenise, which brand of green beans was that and was it Durkee tinned French Fried Onions you put on top? Ever after to be known as Jenise's Green Bean Casserole!

You are an evil man.

I'm much like Carl and Bob Ross. I grew with "Aunt Thelma's French Dressing", though Aunt Thelma herself (whoever she was!) was long gone, and have accepted this device in dishes of fame called things like Crab Louie, Veal Oscar and Steak Diane. They are what they are, and I'm always honored when someone refers to a recipe I've shared as "Jenise's _____".

[Bill Spohn]

I'm always honored when someone refers to a recipe I've shared as "Jenise's _____".

If I ever say "I really like Jenise's foie gras", you'd better look down at your plate, because something will be missing!

[Ryan M]

Maybe it's because I'm from the Midwest, where family recipes are handed down and pass around for so many generations that that no one knows who 'Aunt Whoever' is anymore, but why on earth would any one consider such names silly? It's just a recipe folks. People don't care what it's called - they just care what it tastes like!

[YoelA]

Many years ago I had occasion to travel to the Netherlands on business a few times. Each restaurant I ate at had between six and ten different veal dishes, likewise sole or turbot. Almost all of them had peoples' names (veal a la Johann, turbot a la Marie, etc.) and almost all of them were different from one restaurant to another. I had to assume that they were named for the chef's relatives and/or friends.

Fortunately most restaurants also listed the ingredients for the dishes so I had some idea of what they contained. No, I don't speak Dutch, but betwen English and German I could understand most of the names of the ingredients. The food was usually quite good but dining there was an adventure of sorts.

[Daniel Rogov]

One does hate to sound snobbish but from time to time it seems not unreasonable to so sound.

When I find a recipe named after a well known figure or even a not-well known figure by a great or otherwise creative chef, I will almost always read it because then, if of interest, I can not only follow up by preparing the dish but by reading and learning about the person from whom the dish was named. Among others who have had that honor - King Louis XIV, Madame du Barry, Anna Deslions, Lucky Luciano, the Marquis de Sade, Giussepe Tortoni, Frederick Mistral, Marie Antoinette, Fanny de Beauharnais, Ernest Hemingway..... Note of course that those dishes were named for someone of note and of interest and only rarely were such dishes named for the person who first created it nor by that person's friends, cousins, nieces, nephews or best pals. Also worth noting that a great many of the dishes that carry such names have come to us through the last five hundred or more years and have lasted because they are truly great recipes.

On the other hand, when it comes to Aunt Sally's chocolate pudding, Uncle Charley's chicken gumbo, or My Mom's Chestnut-Stuffed Turkey, I am frankly turned off. First of all, I frankly don't give a hoot about Aunt Sally , Uncle Charley or someone else's mom who in most likelihood did not invent the recipe in the first place, rather having borrowed and adapted it from Fanny Famer, The Joy of Cooking or, for that matter, Paul Bocuse or Alain Ducasse. Second, I see no reason why people of no true note except possibly to us personally should attain immortality via their recipes. Nor, continuing on that line, do I understand why we should want to grant them that particular form of immortality. Would it not be quite adequate at dinner time to comment "the recipe for tis dish was given to me by my Aunt Sally". In fact, I rather like that. Much more modest.

Best
Rogov

[Matilda L]

Names of this kind track the provenance of recipes that are passed around from hand to hand, within families and groups of friends. I like the idea that a recipe is identified with a person. This identification can be fluid, though, because the name often relates to the person you got the recipe from, not the person who invented it.

I've got a recipe for "Jean's Biscuits". My mother, my sister and I call them by that name. Jean herself called them "Bertha's Biscuits" because she got them from her aunt who was called Bertha. I have no idea what Bertha called them - no doubt something else entirely. And the origin of the recipe is lost in the mists of time and the fog of failed memory. Another family recipe is "Chris's Fruit Cake". This distinguishes it from other fruit cake recipes we have in common use. Chris was our aunt from Melbourne. I know at least two other people who have the recipe who call it "May's Fruit Cake" because they first tasted the cake made by my mother, and although the source of the recipe was my sister or me, they refer to it by the name of the person who first made it for them. It's a folk process thing.

Matilda

[Jenise]

Among others who have had that honor - King Louis XIV, Madame du Barry, Anna Deslions, Lucky Luciano, the Marquis de Sade, Giussepe Tortoni, Frederick Mistral, Marie Antoinette, Fanny de Beauharnais, Ernest Hemingway..... Also worth noting that a great many of the dishes that carry such names have come to us through the last five hundred or more years and have lasted because they are truly great recipes.

Well, some of them. I am currently reading about recipes attributed to various Immortals and Whores courtesy of your book which I am in temporary custody while it's owner, Bill Spohn, is incarcerated. And I read one recipe last night which called for browning thick slices of tomatoes and serving those atop, if I understood the recipe correctly, flounder filets which had been carefully dredged and browned, something I would not advocate doing because it shall instantly cause the delicate crust achieved by flour and butter to go soggy. That this is a ruination of sorts is just one cook's opinion of course, but I am simply pointing out that true greatness is not neccessarily indisputable.

[Bill Spohn]

Well, some of them. I am currently reading about recipes attributed to various Immortals and Whores courtesy of your book which I am in temporary custody while it's owner, Bill Spohn, is incarcerated.

I resemble that remark.

I shall console myself with the Latour I shall be opening at lunch in your absence. I'll even send you notes...

[Daniel Rogov]

Jenise, Hi....

Ach zo, but the purpose of browning the tomato slices is precisely to drain them of much of the moisture that might otherwise turn the coating of the fish "soggy".

Best
Rogov

[Jenise]

I resemble that remark.

Oh, you're out?

I shall console myself with the Latour I shall be opening at lunch in your absence. I'll even send you notes...

Cruel, cruel man. There I am, off to the hinterlands at great personal sacrifice in search of the best vinuous treats with which to entertain you at midday repasts, and you mock me.